The discovery of the fat-regulating phosphatidic acid phosphatase gene

Abstract

Phosphatidic acid phosphatase is a fat-regulating enzyme that plays a major role in controlling the balance of phosphatidic acid (substrate) and diacylglycerol (product), which are lipid precursors used for the synthesis of membrane phospholipids and triacylglycerol. Phosphatidic acid is also a signaling molecule that triggers phospholipid synthesis gene expression, membrane expansion, secretion, and endocytosis. While this important enzyme has been known for several decades, its gene was only identified recently from yeast. This discovery showed the importance of phosphatidic acid phosphatase in lipid metabolism in yeast as well as in higher eukaryotes including humans.

Keywords

phosphatidic acid phosphatase / yeast / lipin / phospholipid / triacylglycerol

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Acknowledgements

This review is dedicated to the Carman laboratory members who have worked on the PA phosphatase enzyme. I also thank Gil-Soo Han for the critical reading of this manuscript. This work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant GM-28140.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg